Bank South Pacific has rolled out school fee payment via its BSP *131# mobile banking USSD platform.
BSP Group general manager – retail, Daniel Faunt, said as a more convenient alternative to attending to BSP’s branches to pay children’s school fees, BSP continues to focus on providing digital payment solutions for its customers, which includes the provision of EFTPoS terminals to schools as well as through its mobile phone USSD service.
Faunt said this in response to an article in one of the dailies, dated Friday 5th February, 2021, quoting a parent calling on banks to provide EFTPoS machines to schools for ease of payments.
“We understand the challenge of making school fee payments at this time of the year and have implemented a number of digital solutions to provide parents with convenient options rather than having to go into BSP branches,” he stated.
“The provision of EFTPoS terminals to schools continues to remain a focus however, is reliant on the schools embracing the opportunity to change.
“We continue to work with the schools to enable a larger number of schools to be on boarded as EFTPoS merchants.”
With almost 8,000 schools in PNG, Faunt did point out that it was not economical for every school to have an EFTPoS terminal, nor was telecommunications in more rural areas always of sufficient bandwidth to permit a terminal to operate effectively.
“We have also developed a more innovative payment solution to address this issue by including school fee payments on our BSP mobile banking USSD platform. It is more convenient, faster and easier for parents and guardians. The platform provides a convenient school fee payment solution for parents or guardians to pay their school fees without visiting a branch and eases reconciliation processes for schools.”
Over 130 schools across the country have been invited to register as mobile merchants, with more than 70 now registered.
The full list of the registered schools and their respective codes can be found on the BSP website https://www.bsp.com.pg/Personal/Ways-to-Bank/Mobile-Banking/
Schools who want to register as a BSP mobile merchant can contact BSP Customer Call Centre on (675) +3201212 | 7301212 or email Servicebsp@bsp.com.pg
Meanwhile, Saturday banking for school fee deposits will only take place this month starting 6th February for selected branches around the country.
(Edwina Eugino with BSP Madang branch branchless banking officer, Deryne Dangi)